The Perfect Murder (novel)

{{Short description|Book by H. R. F. Keating}}

{{for|the Jeffrey Archer story|The Perfect Murder (short story)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2018}}

{{Use British English|date=October 2018}}

{{Infobox book |

| name = The Perfect Murder

| image = File:ThePerfectMurder.jpg

| caption = First edition

| author = H. R. F. Keating

| illustrator =

| cover_artist =

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| genre = crime novel

| publisher = Collins Crime Club

| pub_date = 1964

| media_type = Print (Hardcover)

| pages = 249 pp

| isbn = 0-00-231683-8

| oclc= 16545741

}}

The Perfect Murder is a crime novel by H. R. F. Keating.

The novel is the first appearance of Keating's serial detective, Inspector Ghote of Mumbai police, in which his investigation of the apparent murder of the Parsi Mr Perfect was assisted informally by the Swedish UNESCO analyst Axel Svensson. The novel, which Keating wrote without ever having been to India,{{Cite book |last=Tamaya |first=Meera |title=H.R.F. Keating: Post-Colonial Detection (A Critical Study) |publisher=Bowling Green State University Popular Press |year=1993 |location=Bowling Green, Ohio |pages=23}} won a Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award in 1964.{{Cite web |title=The Perfect Murder |url=https://thecwa.co.uk/past-winners/the-perfect-murder/ |access-date=2023-11-10 |website=The Crime Writers’ Association |language=en}}

It was adapted into a film in 1988 produced by Merchant Ivory starring Stellan Skarsgård as Svensson and Naseeruddin Shah as Inspector Ghote.